Establishing Contexts of Encounters: Radiocarbon Dating of Archaeological Assemblages With Implications for Neanderthal-Modern Human Interactions The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Alex, Bridget Annelia. 2016. Establishing Contexts of Encounters: Radiocarbon Dating of Archaeological Assemblages With Implications for Neanderthal-Modern Human Interactions. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33493527 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Establishing contexts of encounters: radiocarbon dating of archaeological assemblages with implications for Neanderthal-modern human interactions A dissertation presented by BRIDGET ANNELIA ALEX to The Committee on Anthropological Archaeology and Human Evolutionary Biology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Anthropological Archaeology & Human Evolutionary Biology Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts April 2016 © 2016 Bridget Annelia Alex All rights reserved Dissertation Advisor: Dr. David Pilbeam Bridget Annelia Alex Establishing contexts of encounters: radiocarbon dating of archaeological assemblages with implications for Neanderthal-modern human interactions ABSTRACT This dissertation seeks to reconstruct the distribution of Neanderthals and modern humans in time and geographic space in order to better understand the nature of interactions between the groups. Because human fossils from the Late Pleistocene are so rare, the biogeography of Neanderthals and moderns is primarily inferred from radiocarbon dates of archeological industries, which are assumed to have been made by one group or the other. Following this methodology, I critically reviewed published radiocarbon dates and produced new dates from active excavations in three regions: the Levant, Balkans, and Northeast Europe. The resulting regional chronologies were compared to the distributions of Neanderthals and moderns predicted from interaction models of no overlap, rapid replacement, and prolonged coexistence. The scenario of prolonged coexistence was subdivided into models of integration, displacement, and avoidance. Informative archaeological chronologies were produced for each region. In Northeast Europe, my new dates and site chronologies for Ciemna and Ob!azowa Caves, Poland, suggest that the Middle Paleolithic ended before 45 kcalBP. In the greater region, a number of distinct assemblages appeared during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS-3), but the duration and sequence of these industries is not well resolved due to the large iii uncertainties of the available chronometric dates. In the Levant, the dates and chronology reported here for Manot Cave, Israel, help to clarify the timing of Early Upper Paleolithic industries and test proposed migrations of modern humans between the Near East and Europe. Specifically, at Manot the Early Ahmarian industry was present by 46 kcalBP and the Levantine Aurignacian occurred between 37-35 kcalBP. However, it was the results from the Balkans that were most applicable to the interaction models proposed in this dissertation, and therefore most informative on the nature of Neanderthal-modern human interactions. The new dates from Pe"turina, Had#i Prodanova, and Smolu$ka Caves, combined with published dates from other sites, suggest that Neanderthals and moderns overlapped for several thousand years in the Balkans. During this period of overlap the groups occupied distinct geographic zones, consistent with the models of prolonged coexistence by displacement or avoidance. The period of overlap ended by 39,000 calBP at the time of the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption and onset of the Heinrich Event 4 cold phase. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 – Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1! 1.1 The research question and approach ..................................................................................... 1! 1.2 What ancient DNA can and cannot tell us ............................................................................ 3! 1.3 Using archaeological industries as proxies for human groups .............................................. 8! 1.4 The biogeographic approach ............................................................................................... 12! 1.4.1 Interaction Models ....................................................................................................... 12! 1.5 Dissertation outline ............................................................................................................. 17! 1.6 References ........................................................................................................................... 17! Chapter 2 – Radiocarbon dates from Manot Cave, Israel Establish Early Upper Paleolithic Chronology of Levant with Implications for Human Dispersals ................................ 23! 2.1 Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 24! 2.2 Significance ......................................................................................................................... 24! 2.3 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 25! 2.4 Manot Cave ......................................................................................................................... 27! 2.5 Results and Discussion ....................................................................................................... 29! 2.5.1 Chronostratigraphy at Manot ....................................................................................... 29! 2.5.2 Implications for regional chronology ........................................................................... 34! 2.5.3 Implications for the spread of modern humans and UP technology ............................ 39! 2.6 Methods summary ............................................................................................................... 40! 2.7 Supporting information ....................................................................................................... 42! 2.7.1 Levantine Early Upper Paleolithic ............................................................................... 42! 2.7.2 Manot Cave .................................................................................................................. 44! 2.7.3 Geoarchaeological analysis .......................................................................................... 46! 2.7.4 Radiocarbon dating ...................................................................................................... 50! 2.7.5 Regional chronology .................................................................................................... 63! 2.8 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 70! 2.9 References ........................................................................................................................... 71! Chapter 3 – Chronology of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition in the Balkans based on Reliable Radiocarbon Dates ..................................................................................................... 79! 3.1 Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 80! 3.2 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 81! 3.3 Background ......................................................................................................................... 82! 3.3.1 Paleolithic research in the Balkans .............................................................................. 82! 3.3.2 Biogeography and culture history ................................................................................ 85! 3.3.3 CI eruption and H4 event ............................................................................................. 91! 3.3.4 Reliable radiocarbon dates ........................................................................................... 92! 3.4 Materials and Methods ........................................................................................................ 93! 3.4.1 New radiocarbon dates ................................................................................................. 93! 3.4.2 Review of published dates ........................................................................................... 97! 3.5 Results and Discussion ..................................................................................................... 100! 3.5.1 Chronology at Pe!turina, Had"i Prodanova, and Smou#ka ....................................... 100! 3.5.2 Regional Archaeological Chronology ........................................................................ 103! 3.5.3 Implications for Neanderthal-modern human interactions .......................................